Artists, intellectuals call for 'European Republic'

BERLIN (AP) — Artists and intellectuals across Europe are calling for the founding of a continentwide republic to replace its many nation states.

Activists planned to proclaim a "European Republic" in dozens of cities at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) Saturday, almost exactly 100 years after the end of World War I.

The event is being organized by a group calling itself the European Balcony Project. Its listed supporters include political scientists, philosophers and writers such as Austrian literature Nobel prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek.

A manifesto on the group's website declares that "the sovereignty of states is hereby replaced by the sovereignty of citizens."